WVC 15 - 2 - 12
§15-2-12. Mission of the State Police; powers of superintendent,
officers and members; patrol of turnpike.
(a) The West Virginia State Police shall have the mission of
statewide enforcement of criminal and traffic laws with emphasis on
providing basic enforcement and citizen protection from criminal
depredation throughout the state and maintaining the safety of the
state's public streets, roads and highways.

(b) The superintendent and each of the officers and members of
the division are hereby empowered:

(1) To make arrests anywhere within the state of any persons
charged with the violation of any law of this state, or of the
United States, and when a witness to the perpetration of any
offense or crime, or to the violation of any law of this state, or
of the United States, to make arrests without warrant; to arrest
and detain any persons suspected of the commission of any felony or
misdemeanor whenever a complaint is made and a warrant is issued
thereon for the arrest, and the person arrested shall be
immediately brought before the proper tribunal for examination and
trial in the county where the offense for which the arrest has been
made was committed;

(2) To serve criminal process issued by any court or
magistrate anywhere within this state: Provided, That they may not
serve civil process; and

(3) To cooperate with local authorities in detecting crime and
in apprehending any person or persons engaged in or suspected of the commission of any crime, misdemeanor or offense against the law
of this state, or of the United States, or of any ordinance of any
municipality in this state; and to take affidavits in connection
with any application to the Division of Highways, Division of Motor
Vehicles and of West Virginia State Police for any license, permit
or certificate that may be lawfully issued by these divisions of
state government.

(c) Members of the West Virginia State Police are hereby
designated as forest patrolmen and natural resources police
officers throughout the state to do and perform any duties and
exercise any powers of forest patrolmen and natural resources
police officers, and may apprehend and bring before any court or
magistrate having jurisdiction of these matters, anyone violating
any of the provisions of chapters twenty, sixty and sixty-one of
this code. The West Virginia State Police is at any time subject
to the call of the West Virginia Alcohol Beverage Control
Commissioner to aid in apprehending any person violating any of the
provisions of chapter sixty of this code. They shall serve and
execute warrants for the arrest of any person and warrants for the
search of any premises issued by any properly constituted
authority, and shall exercise all of the powers conferred by law
upon a sheriff. They may not serve any civil process or exercise
any of the powers of an officer in civil matters.

(d) Any member of the West Virginia State Police knowing or
having reason to believe that any person has violated the law may make complaint in writing before any court or officer having
jurisdiction and procure a warrant for the offender, execute the
warrant and bring the person before the proper tribunal having
jurisdiction. The member shall make return on all warrants to the
tribunals and his or her official title shall be "Member of the
West Virginia State Police". Members of the West Virginia State
Police may execute any summons or process issued by any tribunal
having jurisdiction requiring the attendance of any person as a
witness before the tribunal and make return thereon as provided by
law. Any return by a member of the West Virginia State Police
showing the manner of executing the warrant or process has the same
force and effect as if made by a sheriff.

(e) Each member of the West Virginia State Police, when called
by the sheriff of any county, or when directed by the Governor by
proclamation, has full power and authority within the county, or
within the territory defined by the Governor, to direct and command
absolutely the assistance of any sheriff, deputy sheriff, chief of
police, policeman, natural resources police officer and peace
officer of the state, or of any county or municipality therein, or
of any able-bodied citizen of the United States, to assist and aid
in accomplishing the purposes expressed in this article. When
called, any officer or person is, during the time his or her
assistance is required, for all purposes a member of the West
Virginia State Police and subject to all the provisions of this
article.

(f) The superintendent may also assign members of the division
to perform police duties on any turnpike or toll road, or any
section of any turnpike or toll road, operated by the West Virginia
Parkways, Economic Development and Tourism Authority: Provided,
That the authority shall reimburse the West Virginia State Police
for salaries paid to the members and shall either pay directly or
reimburse the division for all other expenses of the group of
members in accordance with actual or estimated costs determined by
the superintendent.

(g) The West Virginia State Police may develop proposals for
a comprehensive county or multicounty plan on the implementation of
an enhanced emergency service telephone system and may cause a
public meeting on the proposals, all as set forth in section six-a,
article six, chapter twenty-four of this code.

(h) By July 1, 1993, the superintendent shall establish a
network to implement reports of the disappearance of children by
local law-enforcement agencies to local school division
superintendents and the State Registrar of Vital Statistics. The
network shall be designed to establish cooperative arrangements
between local law-enforcement agencies and local school divisions
concerning reports of missing children and notices to
law-enforcement agencies of requests for copies of the cumulative
records and birth certificates of missing children. The network
shall also establish a mechanism for reporting the identities of
all missing children to the State Registrar of Vital Statistics.

(i) The superintendent may at his or her discretion and upon
the written request of the West Virginia Alcohol Beverage Control
Commissioner assist the commissioner in the coordination and
enforcement of article sixteen, chapter eleven of this code and
chapter sixty of this code.

(j) Notwithstanding the provisions of article one-a, chapter
twenty of this code, the Superintendent of the West Virginia State
Police may sell any surplus real property to which the West
Virginia State Police or its predecessors retain title, and deposit
the net proceeds into a special revenue account to be utilized for
the purchase of additional real property and for repairs to or
construction of detachment offices or other facilities required by
the West Virginia State Police. There is hereby created a special
revolving fund in the State Treasury which shall be designated as
the "Surplus Real Property Proceeds Fund". The fund shall consist
of all money received from the sale of surplus real property owned
by the West Virginia State Police. Moneys deposited in the fund
shall only be available for expenditure upon appropriation by the
Legislature: Provided, That amounts collected which are found from
time to time to exceed the funds needed for the purposes set forth
in this subsection may be transferred to other accounts or funds
and redesignated for other purposes by appropriation of the
Legislature.

(k) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code, the
agency for surplus property is hereby empowered to transfer funds generated from the sale of vehicles, other equipment and
commodities belonging to the West Virginia State Police to a
special revenue account within the West Virginia State Police
entitled the West Virginia State Police surplus transfer account.
Moneys deposited in the fund shall only be available for
expenditure upon appropriation by the Legislature: Provided, That
amounts collected which are found from time to time to exceed the
funds needed for the purposes set forth in this subsection may be
transferred to other accounts or funds and redesignated for other
purposes by appropriation of the Legislature. Any funds
transferred to this account may be utilized by the superintendent
to defray the cost of normal operating needs of the division.

(l) If the State Police or any other law-enforcement agency in
this state receives a report that a person who has Alzheimer's
disease and related dementia is missing, the State Police or any
other law-enforcement agency shall immediately open an
investigation for the purpose of determining the whereabouts of
that missing person. Any policy of the State Police or any other
law-enforcement agency relating to a waiting period prior to
initiation of an investigation of a missing person does not apply
in the case of a person who has Alzheimer's disease or other
related dementia of the type referred to in this subsection.

(m) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the
contrary, effective on and after July 1, 2007, the expenses and
salaries paid to the members of the West Virginia State Police for the monitoring and enforcement duties defined in chapter
seventeen-c of this code may not be paid from the State Road Fund
or subject to reimbursement from the Division of Motor Vehicles but
is subject to appropriation by the Legislature.

Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2014 1st Special Session
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